Audio Video News

The Los Angeles area will be a hotbed of high-definition activity in November, with an HD camcorder and editing workshop early in the month to be followed by the HDTV Forum confab a week later.

Over the weekend of November 8–9, Hollywood Studio Rentals in Burbank will host a two-day, hands-on JVC HD Camcorder workshop. On Saturday, instructors will cover camera shooting with JVC's groundbreaking JY-HD10U, said to be "the world's first affordable HDTV Pro-Camcorder." This session will also cover sound recording techniques, compressed Mpeg2 editing solutions with Premiere 6.5 and uncompressed HDSDI connectivity with Final Cut Pro 4.

Sunday's session will cover post-production workflow, with CineForm's Aspect HD software "working transparently underneath Adobe Premiere 6.5," according to advance publicity. The combination allows real-time editing of HD video streams. Attendees will also get to work with Aja Video Systems new converter, which takes the camera's component analog output and converts it to an uncompressed HDSDI signal compatible with Final Cut Pro 4 and a majority of the HD equipment already in the marketplace. Instructors at both sessions will include JVC technical professionals.

The $75 workshop fee covers both days. The event is said to be the first of its kind in Southern California. For more information, call (805) 640-7122 or visit the DVCamps website. Hollywood Studio Rentals is at 2400 West Olive Avenue in Burbank.

Demand for space at the first annual HDTV Forum 2003: Enabling HDTV from the Factory to the Home has been so brisk that organizers have expanded the scope of the conference. The event will run from November 12–13, 2003, at the Marina Del Rey Marriott in Marina Del Rey, CA.

Organized by research firm DisplaySearch and Insight Media and co-sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, the HDTV forum brings together representatives from TV and cable networks, government agencies, satellite and cable providers, retailers, distributors, TV brands, TV OEMs, panel/tube/engine manufacturers, and IC manufacturers. This year's conference "will provide a unique forum for information exchange about the key topics facing the emergence of the HDTV era," and give attendees an opportunity to interact with industry leaders.

Top executives from many cross-industry companies have already committed to the conference. Among them are ABC, Best Buy, Brillian Corporation, CBS, CEA, Chi Mei Optoelectronics, ClairVoyante Laboratories, Coretronic, DisplaySearch, Eastman Kodak, Echostar, Gateway, HDNet, Hewlett-Packard, iFire, InFocus, Insight Media, Joe Kane Productions, LG.Philips LCD, Motorola, National Semiconductor, OCLI, Pixelworks, Runco, Samsung Electronics, Samsung SDI, Silicon Image, Silicon Monitor, Sony, Texas Instruments, Thomson/RCA, Toshiba, USDC, Warner Brothers, and Zenith/LG.

Registration is $1095 or $1195 at the door. For more information about this event, contact Kendra Smith by email or by phone at 512-732-0850.